Was 1968 our global 1905?

■ A special appearance by friends and comrades Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers in Santa Fe - the precious town known to some Cypriots as "Kyrenia of the high-altitude desert".
■ "“Whatever the so-called ’60s was, it was mainly a prelude to what we need to do today”, said Ayers."

It's an essential and burning question that keeps recurring to people who are actively engaged in the revolutionary process, in the study of its history and the theoretical foundations that might guide better guide us in understanding its curious developments in order to help bring the revolution to a VICTORY (or to a new beginning): it's the question of 1968 - the need to understand the historical role of the planetary-scale revolutionary period of the "sixties and seventies" symbolized by the year 1968.

Students of revolutionary Socialist history often see the 1905 revolution in Russia as a launching pad (a dress-rehearsal) of the 1917 revolution in Russia which gave birth to the Soviet Union. Could it be that the revolutionary period exemplified by 1968 can act as a prelude to another and more SUCCESSFUL global revolution? Can this happen even though two whole generations have already passed, and we're in the process of losing many of the people who were the bearers of the Light, Love and Consciousness from that time?

Is it possible that the Socialist revolution posesses qualities that are transcedental (like a number?), going beyond the boundaries of the particular experiences of individual persons or specific populations, embodying a transpersonal reality capable of actualizing a "small 'c' communist" society all over the globe in the same sense that we witness the materialization of Archetypes? In that sense, it would be reasonable to assume that the next global prairie-fire can be self-igniting, without the necessity of being mediated by people who have lived through 1968. Or, to say it differently, it might be possible that those would who bring that spark over accross time from 1968 to the present, might be able to re-ignite the prairie through a discarnate process, through an incorporeal abstraction acting on and through objective reality.

Could it be that the contradictions discovered within capitalism and global Imperialism by marxian science keep generating the Consciousness necessary for humanity to overcome them and replace them with the socialist ~ communist ~ anarchist ~ feminist ~ green ~ autonomist society we yearn for?

What about the social and political conditions? Is it possible to envision a global collective coordinating body that will harmonize and coordinate the Movement? Are modern populations emotionally and politically capable of overcoming the individualism and narcissism enforced on us by the commodity shopping culture and the Spectacle; by narrow perceptions of collective struggle confined by the mental borders of the nation-state; and move forward to removing the obstacles to unity found among the communities and populations of the present? Of the future?

Where is the radical culture that can bind us together? Where is the organizational structure ("One Ring to free them all: One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all, and in the Light to bind them")? Where are the radical Jedi, radical Bene Gesserit, the witches and guerillas, the musicians and healthcare workers, the geeks and "fairy weirdos" who will serve as the cadre of a future revolutionary party that can emerge as a Conscious force on the stage of history to embody the Last International?

Is it viable to work in that direction? Is it premature? Are there radicals consciously and knowingly engaged in building that network? Does it already exist, hiding in plain view and gently guiding us in the direction of planet-wide Liberation?

SANTA FE, N.M. — Two members of the Weather Underground, the 1960s-70s radical activist group most famously known for protesting the Vietnam War and black oppression through bombings of government buildings, will speak at the Santa Fe Art Institute Sunday about current-day issues and creative solutions for fighting back.

Though they are most famous for their activism in their teens and twenties, husband and wife Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, both now in their seventies and living in Chicago, say they are not stuck in the past. The two are still activists in what Dohrn called “perilous times” with the election of Donald Trump.

“We’re not looking wistfully at a ship that already left the shore,” said Ayers. “We’re very much living toward the future. Whatever the so-called ’60s was, it was mainly a prelude to what we need to do today.” He said what he and his wife were fighting for then, like stopping the “underlying causes of war” and white supremacy, still need resolution today.

Both Dohrn and Ayers began their activism in college protesting against U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War and for the Civil Rights Movement, a period during which Ayers said he participated in sit-ins and was arrested at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

They later helped organize the Weather Underground – sometimes labeled, then and now, as a terrorist group – that detonated small bombs at places like the U.S. Capitol and the Pentagon to protest war and other social issues. Three members of the Weather Underground died in 1970 at a New York townhouse while creating an explosive.

Ayers and Dohrn, who was once on the FBI’s Most Wanted List, were on the run for several years until 1980 when they turned themselves in. By then, most of the charges against them had been dropped. Dohrn served less than a year of jail time for refusing to testify in a case, then went on to a career as a legal advocate and in teaching law. Ayers became an education professor in Chicago – whether he had any significant associations with Barack Obama there became an issue in presidential politics.

“My whole life I’ve been told that won’t work, that’s extreme or that’s crazy,” said Ayers about criticism of radical activism throughout the years. But he said activists can’t rely on what polls or powerful figures are saying about a movement and, sometimes, unpopular or new ideas are necessary.

Now, they’re retired college professors who keep up with movements like Black Lives Matter, as well as activism on climate change, women’s rights, protection of undocumented immigrants and other issues.

The two will participate in an “inter-generational” panel with several SFAI Equal Justice Residents, a group of local and national artists invited to work on political or social movement-related art pieces, to discuss alternatives to addressing today’s political climate.

The couple will offer a discussion of their lives, during which people can ask questions. They’ll be available afterward to sign copies of their books if audience members bring them. Dohrn said the couple welcomes all opinions and perspectives in the discussion, including those who disagree with their past tactics.

While there is no “road map” for activism, Dohrn says everyone has something they should be doing right now in response to today’s political situation. She hopes the conversation with artists will evoke some innovative ways of resistance.

“We need to talk to each other, we need to think deeply about other domains, other than just talking in which we can impact, inspire, ignite and imagine a different world,” said Dohrn.

If you go

WHAT: “SFAI Presents the Weather Underground: A Night of Radical Imagination” panel discussion, Q&A and book-signing.
WHERE: James A. Little Theater, New Mexico School for the Deaf, 1060 Cerrillos Rd.
WHEN: Sunday, 6-8 p.m.
TICKETS: Free, but comes with the option to include a $10 or $25 donation to help fund the Equal Justice residency. Go to sfai.org for tickets.